How to draw short anime hair

How To Draw Anime Hair Step by Step + 10 Hairstyle Inspirations

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How To Draw A Bun For Beginners – Step by Step Instructions

The hair, just like the eyes, is an elementary part of an anime character. In this tutorial, you will learn how to draw anime hair step-by-step within just a few minutes.

The article is divided into three sections. First, you will learn what material you need. Then you will see how to draw a female anime hairstyle. You will also find hairstyle inspirations for female figures. Then we will take a look at how to draw male hairstyles with the same approach.

Required material

How to draw manga hair of a female character

Anime hair is often based on real hairstyles but is drawn in tufts rather than individual strands. An important reason for this is that it would be too time-consuming if you draw several single images of a manga with too much detail.

A good way to learn how to draw anime hair efficiently is to divide the hairstyle into several parts. First the front part of the hairstyle, then the sides and then the back/bottom (e.g. braids).

Let’s see how you can draw a typical anime hairstyle for girls. The figure has diagonal bangs on the front and a braid hanging down the back of the head.

1. How to draw anime hair: The preliminary drawing

Start by first creating a drawing of the head. The Loomis method is most suitable because you can quickly achieve a proportional result.

Tip: If you want more precise proportional rules, you should take a look at our tutorial on how to draw a face.

With the Loomis-method, you can quickly draw the head from chin to hairline. This will help you to estimate the length of the bangs and the sides of the hairstyle in proportion to the face.

Only draw this preliminary work very delicately in order to erase them with ease later on.

2. Draw the front part of the hairstyle

With this hairstyle the front part of the hair is rather short, so you only need a few strokes to indicate the bangs. Notice how the strokes are firmer now that we are drawing the outlines of the final shape of the anime hair.

The side hair rests along the cheeks and hugs the face.

3. Draw the middle part of the hairstyle

You can indicate the area of hair at the crown of the head with a single line. To do this, orientate yourself again on the shape of the constructed head to reproduce the curve of the skull reasonably accurately. At the vertex, you can draw one or two intersections of the hairs to suggest specific hair flow.

Reinforce the hairline by drawing auxiliary lines at the level of the forehead to divide the hairstyle into separate strands.

4. Draw the back of the anime hair

Now you do the same with the rest of your hair. In our case, only one braid needs to be drawn. First, draw the outline of the pigtail.

Then you can also indicate individual strands by drawing guiding lines into the hair.

5. Shade the hairstyle

Finally, only a little shading is needed to give the hair more expressiveness. Instead of focusing on individual strands of hair (see: Hair Drawing Guide), Anime hairstyles focus on emphasizing light reflection using light/dark contrasts.

First, hatch the hair with a pencil of your choice depending on the desired darkness. Then blend the pencil strokes with a blending stump or cotton swab to create a smooth graphite surface. Next, pick up the kneaded eraser and brighten up the areas where the source of light is supposed to be reflected.

Now you can draw some weak outlines of strands into the hatched area. The intensity of the lines should harmonize with the hatching.

Female Anime Hairstyles Inspiration

Once you are familiar with the procedure, you basically know how to draw any anime hair. The creation process is similar to any of the following hairdos. They only differ in the shape of the strokes.

Experiment a little and find out which styles are best suited for your character.

How to draw anime hair of a boy

Of course, you can apply the same method to male characters, too. The sequence of actions is almost the same except for the more pronounced facial features and the flow of the hair.

1. How to draw anime hair for boys: Create the sketch

2. Draw the front section of the hairstyle

3. Draw the hair on the sides

4. Reinforce the outlines

5. Shade the manga hairstyle

Inspiration and samples for male anime hairstyles

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How to Draw Anime & Manga Male & Female Hair

This tutorial explains the fundamentals of drawing different types of both male and female anime and manga hair. It also provides detailed example drawings from the front side and back views.

Anime hair and heads different views

For drawing hair that is blowing in the wind see:

Shape of the Head & Hair

Before drawing hair it’s a good idea to have an understanding of the shape of the head and the hairline as shown in the examples below. It can be very helpful to first draw the head before you start drawing the hair especially if you are a beginner.

Anime hairline female

The shape of the top of the head in anime and manga is often fairly close to the shape of a real head but can also vary depending on style.

From the side view the head can be drawn in a slight oval shape (usually less so than a real head). From the front view the top of the head is close to a half circle.

Anime hairline male

In this tutorial we will not go into drawing the different facial features and other parts of the head as that is already covered in other tutorials.

For drawing various anime facial features see:

Direction of Hair Growth

As anime hair is a simplified version of real hair it’s a good idea to also have a basic idea of how hair actually grows. The above example is a male head but the same would apply to a female head as well.

Hair starts out in a spiral from the top/back part of the head and grows mainly in the following directions:

Drawing Short Anime Hair

Anime hair is usually drawn in clumps sort of like real hair that is wet.

Draw short hair (both male and female) out in a shape close to the hairline example above with small clumps at the ends. Draw some clumps pointing slightly towards one another and others away from one another for a more natural look.

Drawing Medium Length/Long Anime Hair

Drawing medium length or long anime hair is similar to drawing short hair but you can draw the hair in much bigger clumps. With longer hair you can also think of the sideburns as separate sections in addition to the sides top and back hair.

Drawing Combed Anime Hair

As the hair is pulled/combed back like that in the above example it will reveal the hairline Therefore you can once again see why knowing the basic shape of the hairline is important.

When drawing hair at the hairline draw some jagged lines to give it a more natural look (real hairs are not all perfectly aligned).

Drawing Trimmed/Neatly Combed Anime Hair

For trimmed neatly combed hair (like the popular “hime cut” for example that is so often used in various anime and manga) it can almost look like a helmet on the head. To make the hair look a little more natural draw some splits into the hair that are wider at the bottom narrowing as they go up.

Drawing Anime Pigtails

For pigtails draw some lines around the pigtail to indicate that the surrounding hair is pulled in the direction of the pigtail. With multiple pigtails you can also draw a parting line in the hair where the hairs that are being pulled in different directions meet (the back view example in this case).

Drawing Curly Anime Hair

Draw the curly parts of anime anime hair similar to a spring. Shorter parts of curly anime hair often tend to be draw same as regular hair or with some light curves. In this example we will also draw the hair slightly more curved at the ends.

Conclusion

There are many variations of anime hair but the examples provided in this tutorial should give you a good foundation to go on. You can of course always look at real hair as well as examples of hair from actual anime and manga for additional reference.

If you like this tutorial you may also be interested in:

How to Draw Anime Hair Blowing in the Wind

This tutorial explains how to draw anime and manga hair blowing in the wind in different directions from two different views with several examples.

Anime hair blowing in different directions drawing

Hair blowing in different directions is often used in anime manga to add dramatic effects, to show the weather conditions or to indicate the direction (and sometimes speed) of a character’s movement.

Being able to show hair motion in a believable way while at the same time maintaining the anime style can be a little bit tricky. To make things easier this tutorial uses fairly simplified drawings along with a breakdown of the hair into different parts as described below.

Splitting Hair Into Different Parts to Make Drawing Easier

When drawing anime hair similar to that in this example it’s a good idea to think of it as splits it into the front, sides and back/top. Viewing the hair as individual parts instead of of just one massive set of clumps can make it much easier to figure out how it should move when being blown in different directions.

You can see the different parts of the hair indicated in different colors in the example above colored as follows:

For drawing other anime hairstyles see:

Anime hairline drawing

You will also want to know the position of the hairline as parts or all of it may become visible depending on the position of the hair. The hairline will also help you have a rough estimate of where the different hair parts are actually attached to the head. This in turn will help you estimate how the hair should act when moved in different directions.

For more on the hairline see:

As this tutorial focuses on the hair we will only draw the head without most of the facial features. For drawing facial features see:

Drawing Anime Hair Blowing to the Side Drawing

When drawing anime hair blowing to the side the front view of the head is a good option to go with. This view will allow you to easily show the direction and waves of the hair. If you were to for example pick the side view a large part of the hair would either be hidden by the head or would point directly at the viewer and be very difficult to draw from that angle.

To start the actual drawing make a light line sketch of the head (and hairline) and at least the parts of the body that the hair will reach down to (if you want a full view of the hair). As already mentioned we won’t be drawing the facial features in this tutorial but if you would like to you can make a light sketch of those as well.

Over top of this sketch draw the major shapes of the hair (front, sides and back).

For an explanation of why you want to draw this way and other drawing tips see:

Usually shorter hair will curve in the direction of the wind while longer hair will also start to wave. With this in mind you can draw the short front hair just curving in the direction of the wind while the longer back hair can have a more “wave” like shape.

Be aware of the hairline and make sure you don’t draw the individual hair clumps in a way where it looks like they are tearing away from the head. Generally the base of the clumps should remain in roughly the same spot as when the hair is in it’s natural position. This may get a bit confusing as the clumps of the front hair on the right have their bases slightly overlapped by one another. Do your best to estimate their placement.

You can draw the shorter hair clumps simply bending to one side and the longer back hair with more of a “wave” in it.

Draw the main shape of the back hair splitting into smaller clumps towards the end. Try and draw these in different directions and of varying sizes to make them look natural.

You will also notice that in the example the part of the hair that will be hidden behind the body is also shown. The reason for drawing this way instead of just drawing only the two separate lines right away is to make sure that both ends will line up correctly.

For more on this and some other tips see:

Anime hair blowing to the side drawing

To wrap up the drawing erase all of the head/body lines that should be hidden and add a few more hair clumps that will stick out from behind the main shape of the back hair. You can also add a few lines here and there to folds in the hair shape.

Finally go over the visible parts of the head and body with darker lines to finish the drawing.

Drawing Anime Hair Blowing Backwards Drawing

The side view of the head can work very well for drawing hair that’s blowing backwards in the wind.

To draw this type of hair you can use the same principals as for the previous example. Draw the shorter hair clumps bending towards the back of the head followed by the main shape of the back hair.

Anime hair blowing backwards drawing

Once again blend some smaller/thinner clumps into the back hair after you finish drawing it’s main shape. Erase any overlapping lines after you are done.

For adding a “wind effect” for this hair see:

Drawing Anime Hair Blowing Upwards Drawing

For upwards blowing hair you can use the side or front view. For this particular example we will go with the front view but the same principals will still apply when drawing the hair in the side view.

The hairline becomes very important when drawing upwards blowing hair as you will need it to determine the position of the bottom parts of the front and side hair clumps.

You can draw the bottom ends of the front hair clumps just very slightly overlapping the hair though if you want to show very strong upwards blowing wind you can draw the hairline fully shown. For the bottom portions of the side hair you will usually want to draw some curves as the hair in those areas tends to grow downwards and will usually not point straight up even if it has wind blowing against it.

For the upper ends of the front and side hair you can draw the clumps close to upside down versions of the hair in its natural state.

Draw the back hair pointing upwards as a sort of onion or candle flame shape that splits up towards the ends.

Anime hair blowing upwards drawing

Again after you are done drawing the main shapes of the hair add a few extra clumps in the background and erase any “see through” parts to finish the drawing.

Drawing Anime Hair Blowing Forward Drawing

When drawing the hair blowing forward it can again be a good idea to use the side/profile view.

You can again use the suggestions in the first and second example for drawing the front and side hair clumps.

Drawing the back hair is where things can get a little tricky. Unless you want the hair to hide the face you will want to position most of the back hair on the far side o the face. You can again draw this portion the same as the back hair in the first two examples in this tutorial.

To make the hair look more natural we will also draw part of the forward blowing back hair in front of the head. You can draw this portion smaller and position it around the neck area to keep the face more open.

Anime hair blowing line drawing

To finish the drawing once again erase any overlapping lines from the face and body and add some extra clumps/folds to both the background and foreground section of the back hair.

Conclusion

Anime hair and hair in general can be quite difficult to draw especially if you want to show it being moved or blown in different directions. By using the breakdown approach as well as starting with just the essential parts of the hair you can make the drawing process a little less confusing and easier to manage.

How to Draw Anime Hair

Today, with the help of a few short and simple steps, the team of Drawingforall.net will show and tell how to draw anime hair, both male and female. Drawingforall.net artists and editors want to show you how to draw anime in all dates. On our website, we want to create lessons both about specific characters and more basic lessons about developing up an anime figure, which include this lesson on how to draw anime hair.

Step 1

Despite the fact that this instruction is devoted specifically to drawing anime hair, we still need to depict the head, because we are unlikely to draw anime hair flying in the air. The head of the anime people can be of any shape, but we decided to choose the most standard, similar to an inverted egg, created by light lines.

Step 2

With light lines depict the contours of the hairstyle. No matter what anime hairstyle you are creating – the main thing is to depict the basic outlines. Anime hair most often looks very expressive, so depict an anime haircut using light, but long and expressive lines.

Step 3

Now let’s make the hair more detailed. Start by creating additional lines and mark the location of the crown of hair. You can make some of the hair sticking out to give more life to a hair sketch. Further, using clear lines trace the anime hair as shown in the example of Drawingforall.net below.

Step 4

Now take an eraser and remove all unnecessary guidelines from the hair. Next, you can add line of hair roots. Next depict shadows to make your anime hair drawing more voluminous, three-dimensional and solid.

Above, we showed you how to draw anime hair of a man, and below we will describe in three steps how to draw anime hair of a woman.

Step 1

As in the previous drawing, let’s depict the anime head with an egg-like figure. You can also outline a neck.

Step 2

Now, with the help of long and smooth lines, depict the outlines of the hair. In our example, this is a long bob haircut.

Step 3

Now remove all unnecessary guidelines from the head. You can also add some shadows, as in the previous example.

Above, you could see basic sketches, with the help of which you can draw absolutely any male and female haircuts. For example, below you can see several examples of haircuts that are depicted by the method you saw above.

How To Draw SHORT HAIR FOR ANIME MANGA

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Where’s the long hair tutorial?

Is the song on the end original? xD I want to hear it on it’s own xD

This is why i subscribe.

So I watched 10 of his tutorials already enough to make a full bodied girl, I said to myself «it looks so easy, all I need to do is to draw a perfect circle first». IT TOOK ME 20 MINUTES TO DRAW A SINGLE CIRCLE

LMAOOO IT TOOK ME LIKE 5 SECONDS

You don’t have to draw a perfect circle cuz you’ll erase it anyway😙

Practice makes perfect my dude, godspeed and good luck to ya

It’s in the wrists, not the fingers or palm

I know right I can’t get perfect circle

Mikey, Have you ever considered publishing a ‘how to draw Anime Girls’ book? I’d buy it.

@KpY 1337 smooth

@Ana Castro it’s not by Mikey though, it’s by Christopher Hart

Just checked, there is a book called «The master guide to drawing anime: amazing girls»

You’re entertaining, while teaching us. EXCELLENT JOB.

Lol, my dad watches your videos so that he can learn english. He really enjoys it.

*Draws really good*
Him: we’ve got a *simple head*

*****I’m not going into detail. Just a simple head*****

“ *SiMpLe HeAd* ” he said. Tell that to the 2 rubbers I wasted just erasing a SiMpLe HeAd.
Im not a hater tho, just a joke.

also, simple is rarely good if it isnt a simple version of something hard. push yourself always so you dont stagnate.

The basics are key. training hard comes next

I vote for real time tutorials and more singing

@mikeymegamega your welcome

Real time for sure always, love the songs tooooo

damn that was good but cringy

You’re entertaining, while teaching us. That’s why I can watch your videos, even if they’re «long» ;]

Mikey I want to say Thank you from the Great Explanation and Clear Guidelines for Hair!
I Publish my First One Shot Manga by Watching Your Tutorial For a Year.
Please Don’t Stop Inspiring Like One Of Us who needs more Experience!
Thank You Once Again!
Ps: Don’t Remove The Singing Part Every Videos. ^^

every new tutorial is honestly soooo much help. This video also improved my head drawing overall. REALTIME DRAWING IS MUCH BETTER BY THE WAY!

Thank you Mikey! I’ve been trying to improve my skills with drawing hair and this is incredibly helpful. I usually draw male characters but I can always apply your advice regardless 😉 Cheers mate. EDIT: Omg I got to the end with the song part and I’m in tears. Thanks for the new ringtone

Great tutorial! I can tell by looking at my drawings following your videos that progress is happening, even if it’s slow and steady. Keep up the great work!

Your videos have helped me improve tremendously in the short time I’ve been watching you. Thanks for making all of these tutorials.

Start with a circle!
*searches how to draw a circle*
Curve the lines..
*searches how to draw curving lines*
You will need a pencil
*searches for an hour for a pencil*
Make sure the pencil is sharp!
*sharpens pencil. Pencil breaks. Sharpens for 25 minutes*
April Fools! This ain’t no tutorial!
*throws pencil to the wall*
Just kidding. It’s actually a hair tutorial, so if you got mad and threw things, go get your art stuff.
*goes to other side of room to get pencil* Okay..I’m ready.
This will be easy guys! Don’t worry!
Me: Oh good.
Draw a circle.
Me: *gets triggered*
Yeah I’ll leave..

Love your stuff, man! Great video and thanks for doing these amazing tutorials. Love a lot of real time drawing btw. Your time lapses are a staple of your content too. I wan’t both! This tutorial was paced perfectly.

just what i was waiting for. i’m always struggling with the hair. this really helps. looking forward to the next two parts.

I like watching. long or short tutorials. they are all great to watch. That singing. Omg that was awesome! You inspired me to draw after two weeks of injured hand. No pain this time, so I think I’m back. You healed oh great Mikey!

Mikey, your videos are invaluable. I think it’s such an amazing thing you do. teaching people for free how to do this. Sharing your talent.. you really need to be commended for this!

Real time tutorials are fantastic, wish more creators would try it for their channels every once in a while

i like real time tutorials more. i´m happy that there are coming more hair tutorials

Finally!! Guidelines for hair! You, sir, are amazing. The only way I can draw things is with guidelines and I havent been able to find a tutorial with ones that made sense to me until this one.

THIS VIDEO IS BEAUTIFUL! just like all your videos lol❤

this guy adds so much

i completely agree with ya

Thank you so much Mikey, I have used your videos for my art and now everyone loves my art, you are the best and I will subscribe!

love your tutorials. you and another drawing youtubers are my favourite. and this really helps me because i never went into the topics of hairline so i really thank you :3

It’s amazing how you’ve created a sense of color even in the b/w image. First one’s blonde, below pink, 3rd brown and last is deep purple

i love your tutorials, you can learn to draw really good and you explain it and dont speed it up like most do

You are amazing at drawing and teaching! I have learned lot of small but important things what i have never even thought when drawing something. Thanks! 👍🍻

Man, I always search how to do this stuff, and this Channel is always the one that teaches me to actually do something!

These tutorials are crazy helpful. I usually work in realism cause I could never quite get a grasp ok the anime style but I think I’ll be able to work it out now.

“Grab a rubber because every bodies a idiot and makes mistakes in life”
Funny how my dad told me that before he left.
Looks like he was helping me draw the whole time wow thanks dad.

You go right ahead with that. He was looking to your future.

i loved these kind of long real time talking/singing videos and i hoped you realease these more often this is straight up fun and quality video where i could learn no becoming a better drawer thank you Mikey

Thanks again, Mike! I’ve been having trouble with hair lately, it just keeps slipping my mind the basic structure. Anyway, you know you’re stuff!

I love this one,
I’ve been struggling in hair drawings and this one helped,

Brilliant tutorials and I absolutely loved the singing part. A beautiful, heartfelt song Mikey.

Thanks to you I’ve started drawing again and i am actually proud of my art

Hey mikey thank u so so much for all the tutorials u have made they have improved my art work so much

thank you so much Mike for this tutorials it’s really helpful 😀

I love your tutorials and I like that it’s real time so I can follow along 🙂

I enjoyed watching you explain
It really helps me to start my own designs

Sir, your characters are always waifuable

If you can’t be with your waifu, make one yourself amirite

These tutorials are so helpful. Thank you

i wish there were more youtubers like you i learn way too much from your sketches

very helpful, thank you so much ♥

the way that this man draws so perfectly just makes me just want to be like «Oh okay so I shouldn’t even be trying. Got it.»

Your tutorials are awesome and so easy to understand for me u explain really well great job love ur drawing style 💕😊

Really enjoying your vids and learning a lot! Keep them coming!

I found even more than I was looking for! Thanks a lot, Mikey. Your channel is nice

i love your work you help me so much its crazy its really amazing what you do to help me and others understand the way anime art works as a body much love and respect cant thank you enough

Im glad he is back doing awesome tutorials on Flash-Player. Thank you Mikey mega mega

Exactly how do you share a pic on your Facebook page because I’ve tied and no luck

This tutorial is the best hair tutorial ive seen, it blew my mind! haha

love mikey for showing us keys for extremely good drawings

Nice and educational, now i just need to figure out how to draw a circle

This is actually really helpful for me, and the «thing», that I’m drawing

Huge honkers, a real set of bandokers, packing some dobonhonkaroos

Do I dare ask, what thing are you drawing? Not safe for work I assume.

That was so entertaining love ur work i am a big fan keep up the good work 😍

Looks amazing. What you can do with that mechanical pencil is giving me awe.

Me: Trying to draw straight line
Result: Perfect circle
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

heresy, you did the forbidden

LLukik better than nothing lol

thank you for your tutorial, it’s really helpful for me

this really helped me a lot with how to approach drawing manga style hair thanks!!

and yet again ur videos are awesome! thanks for the tutorial mickey

could you do a tutorial on coloring hair, skin and clothing for digital artwork? i just started doing digital artwork and coloring to me has to be the hardest part of creating digital artwork. and its hard to find good commentary tutorials where they explain step by step what they are doing like you do and doing it in real time to make it easier to see what they are doing and how they are doing it.

@RageBlade Ivern Thanks man, I will. GL to you too 🙂

@Smokharn thanks a lot and i will. You should get into art as well. Yeah at the srart of leatning to draw it ferls impossible and that you’ll never improve but once you get past that part once tou start to see yourself improve it wil make you want to keep drawing. I think that you should try to keep drawing as well. I know with enough time you could learn to draw decently after a while and if you keep at it youll find yourself at a place where you and others really enjoy the art you can make. So dont give up, art is one of the few thinks its never to late to learn, youve got this and good luck and have fun.

@RageBlade Ivern Isn’t there other digital pens you can get that have a smaller nib so that it feels easier to draw more precise lines? I am sure I have seen a few online, that might do the work for you. I hope you keep up the good work and get somewhere, I have always hated that I never got into drawing, since am a very, very creative guy and has it easy to picture things I want to make, its just that the execution for me is really hard

@Smokharn its fun still. I have seen a bit improvement overall but i just havent had the time to do lots of digital, mainly job and gaming with friends, i just cant say no to playing with them. Also i still find it quite hard to draw digitally i have a very hard time drawing from scratch ao i normally do traditional then transfer it to digital. I mainly dont like how thick the pen and nib is it feels hard to draw percise or amall lines.

I haven’t drawn anime since high school and I decided to follow along with your tutorial and it turned out so much better than o thought it would considering I haven’t done it in so long. I wish this had existed when I was in high school 😂😂

OMG THANK YOU MIKEY SO MUCH I FINALLY DID IT. 😭😭😭😭😭

5:50 Fun Fact: In Japanese, the words for Hair and Paper both have the same root word, «Gami», so there you have it, an entire language and culture agrees with your comparison of hair & paper.

Thanks for this man! really helpful. i was trying to redesign my short hair cause it sucked

I’m just coming from Mark crilley’s video for the same thing..I feel like he’s better for people who are a bit more advanced..Mikey always starts with the basic head guidelines and gives an in depth understanding that even a novice like me can easily understand. It also helps in developing a viewing practice for basic head shapes, sort of eye training and boosts imagination. Really appreciate the work and time you put in these videos instead of going timelapse.